DISRUPTION

2010

Shed Gallery, California State University, Northridge, CA

I examine the meaning of objects and events to bring notions of perception into question. To integrate conflicting premises into my work, I physically alter the natural state or quality of the materials. I transform their original purpose and shift their properties into unnatural or unlikely states. The combining of organic and industrial materials functions as a metaphor for the confrontations between natural and human elements. For example, intense resin pours create time restrictions and unpredictable chemical reactions, then by aggressively stripping away the cured resin a visual tension and discomfort surfaces within the work. These pieces occupy the formal space of a gallery to reconsider the idea of a traditional art object; sculptures become paintings, paintings violate their pictorial space by assuming a three dimensional presence and videos become moving paintings. Visual affinities to the elements in nature become catalysts to foster a dialogue of binary oppositions: ecology versus psychology, destruction versus creation, and absence versus presence. This approach to my work began after I volunteered for a non-profit organization during the BP Oil Disaster in 2010. I photographically documented the affected landscape, oil removal methods, and any visible progress made. After weeks of immersing myself in this environmental disaster I began to see a strange tension between the tragic and beautiful nature embodied within this imagery. The duality of these diametrically opposed concepts changed my approach to art making. I began to communicate a palpable tension between the landscape’s tragic transformation and its unlikely, yet persistent beauty. -Elizabeth Tinglof